Coming to Fusion 360 from another CAD tool? This is a simple tip that can go a long way in making your transition easier. When teaching new users, this is actually one of the first points I cover. So, with that in mind, head over to your name in the upper right-hand corner of the dashboard. From that drop-down menu, select preferences.

Fusion 360 preferences
From the Preferences menu, on the main screen for General, select the drop down menu from “Pan, Zoom, Orbit Shortcuts”. From this drop down, you have several program choices. The default will be Fusion 360. Select from the other options including Inventor, Solidworks, Alias and TinkerCAD. Kudos to Autodesk for adopting a design mindset for this user experience.
Now, your Pan, Zoom, and Orbit tools will function like the program you are coming over to Fusion 360 from. Hope you enjoyed this tip and keep modeling! If you are attending the Fusion 360 Academy, please join my class “Fusion 360 on a Wacom”.
Here’s a quick list of what these different short-cuts do:
Fusion 360
- Zoom: roll the middle mouse button or Ctrl + Shift + middle mouse button
- Pan: middle mouse button
- Orbit: Shift + middle mouse button
Alias
- Zoom: Shift + Alt + right mouse button
- Pan: Shift + Alt + middle mouse button
- Orbit: Shift + Alt + left mouse button
Inventor (Windows only)
- Zoom: F3 + left mouse button
- Pan: F2 + left mouse button
- Orbit: F4 + left mouse button
SolidWorks
- Zoom: Shift + roll middle mouse button
- Pan: Ctrl + middle mouse button (Windows) or Command + middle mouse button (Mac)
- Orbit: Middle mouse button
Tinkercad
- Zoom: roll the middle mouse button or Ctrl + Shift + middle mouse button
- Pan: middle mouse button
- Orbit: right mouse button
